Annette Robinson
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PO-go
Video instalation in-situ

One of three pieces I made as part of the Farringdon Factory, a month long residency, during which the artists involved had unlimited access to a huge disused office space in Farringdon. The building had 6 floors and an accessible roof. The surface of the building was nearly all window, framed glass units repeated on all sides.

I wanted to respond to the vastness of the space, the reflections and repetitions, the muted sounds ( the building was soundproofed blocking out external noise ) and the fact that whilst I often felt very small in this space I could stand and observe the many actions outside the building. The windows both of this building and of those in similar but fully occupied buildings nearby framed people and their actions. It was a bit like being placed in Jacques Tati's set for his film Playtime.

Having made one animation ( Turnagain) using forms found in the building I decided that I wanted to animate it in a different way, and that one way would be to use myself. There is something about the repetitive, absurd nature of Po-going that appeals to me and seemed perfect in the context of this space, the repetitive actions perhaps reflecting the repetition of everything both external to and within the building. It also put me in mind of something Walter Benjamin said about Charlie Chaplin and movement within film

"…always the same jerky sequence of tiny movements applies the law of the cinematic image sequence to human motorial functions…"

The act of Po-going became a small gesture that would literally resonate throughout the building. It became a private/ public performance, which echoed the private public nature of all the people I watched in their offices or walking by as I Pogo-ed. People going to work in smart office clothes, a window cleaner, a man walking his dog, people rushing by with suitcases, those sat in offices having meetings. It became the way that I explored the space and ground of the building, bouncing on the spot looking out or traversing each floor, window to pillar, corner to corner, side to side. One day, on the top floor I had a whole office of people watching me and cheering me on, though of course no sound was heard, they made positive gestures and I bounced.

For PO_go on Level 6 (the top floor) the projection reflects its immediate surroundings, becoming another echo of the visual experience of the building. The sound of this piece is vital, the repetitive rhythm, calling to mind shoes walking across office floors, or perhaps echoing the pillar drill of nearby building work. When I am visually absent from the film because I have bounced beyond the frame of the projection I can still be heard and the sound is doubled generating an industrial clattering as if in a working factory.

The piece fluctuates between performance and simply being about the repetitive action; The pogoing resulted in two pieces, this & and 'Up & Down & Round About '.